February 17th, 2021

by Steve Biegner | Feb 17, 2021 | PS from PS

“You’re making progress”

My Coach said that to me yesterday while we were out on a run together.  “You’re making progress,” he said.  Except it didn’t feel that way.  I didn’t really want to be running.  It was cold and I didn’t have enough layers on.  I wasn’t holding the pace I had hoped for.  My mind was fairly distracted and I wasn’t very present while I was running.  About the only thing I seemed to be accomplishing was moving forward.

So it didn’t feel much like progress.  It felt like back tracking on most levels. 

“You’re making progress,” he said over and over as we spent the 40 minutes together.  Toward the end of the journey, he unpacked the depth of “progress” for me.  See he was using the second definition of the word: “to advance or develop toward a more complete condition.”  Progress isn’t perfection.  It’s simply movement toward a more complete condition.  Progress was happening, even while the run wasn’t perfect.  I made progress as I started the run.  I made progress that I didn’t stop the run when I was cold.  I made progress that continued the run despite the distractions, poor form and slower pace.  And maybe the time that I made the most progress was when I recognized that even negatives and imperfections of the run itself were still helping me to make progress.

Lent begins today.  A 40-day run for Christians.  And Jesus says the same words to us: “You’re making progress.”  We hear in Scripture “return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  Those words are spoken to every imperfect runner, who is actually still making progress.  Those words are spoken to every imperfect Christian, who is actually still making progress.  Attempting to advance or develop toward a more complete condition.  Returning to God.

Lent is our run together.  Lent is our time set our hearts and minds on making progress.  On running with and toward the Lord of grace and mercy.  It’s another starting line.  It’s another imperfect journey with an imperfect runners that, no matter what happens, brings us toward a more complete condition.  

Your Lent doesn’t have to be perfect.  And yet it is still a gift.  A chance.  A start.  An opportunity to be present.  It is an invitation to return.  As we move into it, open to all that will and can happen, no matter what the results, we will notice that we are indeed making progress.

Lord, here we go.  Let’s make progress.  Amen

Still in One Peace,
ps

Reminder: St. Paul’s Daily Devotionals for Lent (written by Mary Wolf) can be found at stpaulseggertsville.com

February 10th, 2021

by Steve Biegner | Feb 10, 2021 | PS from PS

ps from ps… I’ll never forget the view.  Spectacular!  You could see everything from up there.   On the island of Ile a Vache, where our mission partner Grace Ministries is located, it is very hilly terrain.  But there is one large mountain that stands above the rest.  And if you are walking from the open-air market in Madame Bernard to the mission in Grande Plaine, you have two choices: go around it (and add an extra 30 minutes of walking in 90+ degrees) or go over it. So over it we went!  Pastor Jeremiah was with me on that journey and we decided shorter was better.  It was a slow roll up the side of the steep hill and finally after a few breaks for water, we made it.  Exhausted and over heated, we were treated to the best view on the island.  You could see our Grand Plaine school and orphanage on the west end of the island all the way to our Pointe East school on the other end.  We could have stayed up there for hours resting and taking it all in.   But we knew we had to get back down and return to the school children because there was more work to do.   In Mark’s gospel, Jesus invited a few of the disciples up an important hill for an important experience: to see it all.  On that mountain top, Jesus was transfigured (changed) and it became abundantly clear to the disciples that this was God in their midst.  They did what we wanted to do: rest in it and take it all in.  They wanted to hang onto that moment and soak it up.   But Jesus invited them back down the mountain.  Because, there was more work to be done.  THat’s what they were called to do. The mountain top experience was there for them to recognize the connection to God and the big picture of what they were called to do.  In Haiti, that mountain top experience was there for Jeremiah and me to see the same thing: God was with us but God was calling us.  Back down the mountain.  There’s more work to be done. These types of mountain top experiences come in all shapes and sizes and places and times in our lives.  They are profoundly impactful and they are there for a reason: to show us that God is with us and God is calling us. As we transition into the season of Lent in the days ahead, may your “returning to the Lord” be driven and propelled by those experiences.  May you remember the spectacular “view” you experienced, taking in the sheer beauty of the big picture of God’s love.  And may that experience lead you right back down the mountain.  Because, there’s more work to be done. Lord, thank you for the mountain tops.  May they lead me into the work you are calling me to do.  Amen Still in One Peace, ps

February 3rd, 2021

by Steve Biegner | Feb 3, 2021 | PS from PS

ps from ps… This week, I want to share some reflections from Pastor Lee Miller, a friend and colleague who serves as pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Buffalo, as well as the Dean of the Conference churches in this area. – ps  Mark 1:29-39 29As soon as [Jesus and the disciples] left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. “Every time we read through the cycle of the Gospel-writers I’m struck by something new. A new detail. A pattern I hadn’t realized before. Or maybe I’m just forgetting what I once already learned. How about you? What are you hearing new in Mark this year? For me, I’ve been impacted by these early occasions for healing. We know that Mark does not include a birth narrative, that “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” begins with a baptizer and some water. In Mark’s reluctance to offer fine detail, the whole 40 days in the wilderness only requires 2 verses (12-13) and before we are halfway through Mark’s first chapter the first disciples have been called.  On the next sabbath day Jesus taught in a local synagogue, but unlike Luke, the words of the scroll he read are not recorded, only that he taught with authority. And then… Mark spends a little more time as he shows us that, just then, Jesus made whole one with an unclean spirit. The spirit recognized the authority of the Christ, was silenced, and left the man. And as soon as they left the synagogue, with Jesus’ fame beginning to spread, he accompanied Simon to the home of his mother-in-law, and here again is another story of healing. Jesus took her by the hand, accompanied her, and lifted her up. It is then that the fever leaves her. The Greek word used here for “lifted her up,” kratesas, may be translated “to hold.” So it is as Jesus takes her hand, and holds onto her, that the fever departs. God’s word incarnate, let loose in the world, seeks us out, comes into our very homes, takes our hand and takes hold of us, reducing and drawing out the fever of this world. This is good news. I am struck in Mark by these early stories of healing. For me, this year, I am clinging to these stories of healing. God’s word has an impact on this world, and it is for our benevolence, for our welfare and wholeness. God is at work healing us, driving down the fever pitch of anger and hatred, and restoring us to relationship with God’s own self, and each other. Thanks be to God! Where do you see God’s healing at work today? How are you a part of God’s healing work in community this day?”